Try this One Pot Chili Mac with Beer recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup beer
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 2 tsp cumin ground
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 14 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 jalapeã±o, seeded and minced (or with seeds and mor
- 2-3 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cups elbow macaroni (whole wheat or brown rice)
- 2 x 14 oz cans of black/red/pinto beans rinsed and drained (i cook my own)
- 1 tbsp raw honey or maple syrup
- 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
- 1 cup olives or artichokes from a jar chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese (like colby jack) or 1/4 cup nutri
- Carbohydrate 10.1221483300829 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.98532230301262 g
- Fiber 2.45628611165846 g
- Protein 1.73157239528526 g
- Saturated Fat 0.366741360774544 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (263g)
- Sodium 646.98439135252 mg
- Sugar 7.66586221842444 g
- Trans Fat 0.228133193604523 g
- Calories 78 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat large dutch oven or soup pot on medium heat and swirl oil to coat.
- Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add carrot, bell pepper, jalapeño and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add chili powder, cumin, paprika and salt; stir and cook for a minute or two.
- Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, beer, broth and bring to a boil.
- Add pasta, stir, cover and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and add beans, honey, lime juice, olives/artichokes and cheese/nutritional yeast.
- Stir and adjust seasoning to taste.
- Serve hot.
Ingredient labels omit the thermal capacity of heavy-bottomed vessels. A thin pot creates hot spots that burn tomato paste before liquids enter, turning starches bitter. Cooking relies entirely on maintaining a steady simmer within a cast iron or enameled Dutch oven to hydrate the macaroni evenly.
Starch release controls the final texture. When adding three cups of elbow macaroni directly to the simmering broth and tomato mixture, stirring occasionally prevents the pasta from cementing to the base. Cover the pot and cook for precisely twelve minutes until the liquid reduces into a cohesive sauce. Exceeding this window transforms the pasta into mush, while rushing the boil leaves the centers crunchy.
Acidity and sweetness require balancing at the end of cooking. Stirring in one tablespoon of lime juice alongside honey after removing the pot from heat brightens the earthy spices without curdling dairy elements. Swapping standard beer for a malty brown ale deepens the savory profile, provided the alcohol content cooks off sufficiently during the initial reduction phase.
